AIKEN, LARRY D.

Name: Larry D. Aiken
Rank/Branch: E4/US Army
Unit:
Date of Birth:
Home City of Record:
Date of Loss: 13 May 1969
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 151000N 1080200E (BT252162)
Status (in 1973): Released POW
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground

Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 February 1991 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: The records of the millions of U.S. servicemen in Vietnam are so
extensive that errors and inconsistencies were bound to occur occasionally. The
same is true of those men who are missing, prisoner or otherwise unaccounted
for.

The case of Cpl. Larry D. Aiken is one example. Aiken, a negro, is listed as
missing on May 13, 1969. Intelligence later revealed that he had been captured,
but was "recovered" by unnamed individuals from a Viet Cong hospital. Thus, on
lists compiled which showed the status of each missing American in 1973, Aiken
was listed as a released POW.

At some point between 1973 and 1980, however, additional information must have
been received as Aiken's status was changed to escaped POW. Currently, Defense
Intelligence Agency classifies Aiken as a returned POW.

Because Aiken's name does not appear on many of the lists of returned POWs, many
POW/MIA activist groups maintain his name on file as one on whom insufficient
information is available. These groups are aware that even one man could easily
be forgotten because of clerical errors.

As reports mount that indicate Americans are still alive, POW/MIA groups work
harder to be sure that not a single man is forgotten.


